Akvis has released Akvis Enhancer 10.0
(http://akvis.com/en/enhancer/index.php) for
Windows and Macintosh. he program allows
improving detail on an image, no matter what was
the cause of the unsharpness. The standalone
version supports HDRI technology.

The new release includes Smart Correction, which
improves the tone quality of an image by
adjusting the lightness or darkness of points in
the image.

Akvis Enhancer is image enhancement software that
helps you improve detail in photos no matter what
caused the problem: poor/excessive lighting,
motion or poor focus. The software provides four
modes that can treat each problem separately:

° In Enhancer mode the program brings out details
on one single shot by intensifying color
transition. The tool is useful in cases when a
photo has an uneven exposure. For example, when a
picture has been taken against the light source
and consequently the objects on the foreground
are hardly discernible, which is especially
annoying when you take a picture of a person. Or
when a photo lacks dramatic effect due to
vagueness of the scene.

° The Focus mode improves blurred images by
bringing into focus the whole image or only
certain parts of it. It happens wheb the camera
fails to focus on the object being shot, and the
photo comes out fuzzy. This mode can rescue such
out-of-focus images. The mode offers several
presets that are recommended for the first
acquaintance with the program.

° The HDR mode is only available in the
Standalone version of Enhancer. The HDRI (High
Dynamic Range Imaging) technology expands the
dynamic range of an image and shows details in
both shadows and highlights.

New to this release is Smart Correction mode.
It's used for tone correction of images, which is
done by correcting the brightness of points in
the light and dark areas. As a result the overall
impression of the image improves considerably.
Changes can be made to the entire image or to a
part of the image depending on the colors
selected for correction.

The plug-in version of Enhancer includes
Enhancer, Focus, and Smart Correction modes. It
supports Photoshop batch processing that can
apply the same settings to a series of images.
The plug-in version is compatible with Adobe
Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Corel Paint Shop
Pro Photo, Photo-Paint, PhotoImpact, etc.

Upgrades for registered users are available for
US$29. The Akvis Enhancer Plugin sells for $69 .
The Enhancer Standalone with HDRI support sells
for $81. The program also comes bundled with
Akvis Noise Buster (noise reduction software)
with a discount of $35.

Home users can obtain the full line of Akvis
plugins in the Akvis Alchemy bundle (Retoucher,
Chameleon, MultiBrush, Enhancer, Coloriage, Noise
Buster, Sketch, Decorator, LightShop, ArtSuite,
SmartMask, Magnifier, ArtWork) for $325. One
license key allows activating the software on two
computers.